Ten Thousand Devils

Ten Thousand Devils. Attack and Defend: The Confederate Left Flank. , Time: Mid-Afternoon, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's 2,600-man division occupied the northern stretch of Gen. Jubal A. Early's battle line. Gordon's command primarily manned the Second Woods a short distance behind you, but moved into this open ground in an attempt to drive the Union 19th Corps from its position behind the fence line 350 yards in front of you. Although they succeeded in driving back Union artillery and temporarily forcing the infantry back to the First Woods, Gordon was unable to crush Sheridan's right flank., In mid-afternoon, Gordon saw Union Col. Isaac Duval's division moving across the high ground of the Huntsberry Farm to your left, toward the Confederate flank and rear. To oppose the attack, he shifted Col. Edmund N. Atkinson's brigade into position to your left, facing swampy Red Bud Run. With his flank thus protected, Gordon believed he could hold his position. Gordon later recalled: "When we first saw [Union Col. Rutherford B] Hayes and his men coming over the hills, we rather laughed the movement to scorn, knowing of this morass on our left, but when on [Hayes] came, plunging into the morass as though it was mere pastime, we began to wonder of what metal such men were made. One of my staff officers remarked, 'they must be devils', and as [they] rose to the brink of the bank away went my boys as though ten thousand devils were after them." Gordon tried to shift other troops to the left to the northern face of the Second Woods, but the Federals adjusted to the new defensive line and continued their successful attack. Gordon abandoned the woods and made another stand at a stone wall in the open fields about a half-mile behind you., This sign made possible through funds donated by the Millbrook High School Cross Country Team